- One of the most important things to consider
when you're setting up for a live stream
is to make it stable, reliable, and consistent.
But what if you find yourself consistently
wishing you had a little more flexibility
or wanting to stream from a different location?
Sometimes you just need to go for it.
Sometimes you just need to say Yolo.
If you remember in like 2013,
YOLO was a thing that kids said,
and this is called the YoloBox, so...
(upbeat music)
And if you're unfamiliar with YoloBox,
what it says on the YoloBox box is
that it is a switcher, and coder, monitor, and recorder.
So a lot of things all in one unit.
And real quick, I'm gonna give
some background and disclosure,
but if you just wanna jump straight into the testing,
you can use the chapter marker right down here.
Several months ago,
the people from YoLoBox reached out to me
and asked if I wanted to try it, and I said no.
And honestly, the reason I said no is
because the name is really goofy.
I just thought it was not gonna be a good thing.
And after that, when I started making videos
about live streaming and that kind of stuff,
people in the comments kept asking
if I had ever used the YoloBox,
or they were recommending that I should use it.
And so I started to get more curious.
And then a few weeks ago,
they reached out to me again and said,
"Hey, do you wanna try it?"
And this time I said, "You know what, sure."
So if you wanna know how I handle any kind
of sponsored content or free products,
there is a link in the description
to the Ethics Statement on my website.
And basically, they sent this to me at no charge,
but there's no obligation on my part
or promise on my part to make a video.
Nobody would get to look at the video before I publish it,
if I do make a video.
So basically, they just sent it to me and said,
"Do what you want with it."
And it's so interesting,
that I do wanna make a video about it.
And the first thing I thought when I took the YoLoBox
out of the box was, yo, this thing is super well-built.
If you've ever used a really nice on-camera monitor,
this feels like that.
It definitely doesn't feel cheap or plasticky,
it basically looks like a giant iPhone,
or maybe it's like a regular size iPhone and I'm just tiny,
iPhone 13 Pro Max.
Yolo,
yellow, Yolo.
And then I thought, okay,
if this is supposed to be simple and practical to use,
there are already a lot of great reviews
and tutorials about the YoloBox on YouTube.
Why do I need to make one? I don't.
So instead, I'm gonna walk you through with me
as I try to set it up and use it for the first time.
And we can see how actually easy or not easy it is.
Before that though, just to give you an idea
of what this is supposed to do, it is a monitor.
It does have an SD card slot
so you can record directly in here.
But it's also supposed to take some of the functionality
of like a capture card, or even like an ATEM Mini.
And on the main side here,
there are two HDMI inputs and a USB input.
And what that means is you can actually connect
two cameras or two HDMI sources, and even a USB webcam.
Or you could take something like a Cam Link,
plug it into the USB and then have three HDMI inputs.
There's an HDMI out port, an ethernet port,
an audio in jack and a USB type C port, as you can see.
On the other side, there's a 1/4-20 mount
for mounting on a camera.
There's an SD card tray,
which I was a little bummed out because I thought this was
like a nice way you put the card in and slide it in,
but this is just sort of like a filler.
And then you take this out, pop your card in.
There's the power button.
There's an audio output.
And then there's also a SIM card tray.
So I don't have a SIM card in a data plan
to use with this right now,
but apparently you could put one in there,
and then use this as a complete standalone unit.
And it's really, really, well-built,
feels like this is all metal.
This is kind of rubbery on the back.
It's got some nice weight and heft to it.
It does have an internal rechargeable battery
that charges via USB-C.
I don't know how long the battery life will last
in real-world usage, but at least since it is a USB charger,
you could connect a power bank to it
and keep going that way.
No, I have a lot of questions about this,
but let's start by seeing if it can do the things
that it's supposed to be able to do.
All right, so I am going to power it on
by just holding down the power button.
There we go, we've got the screen.
It's pretty responsive though.
I mean, it's very much like a smartphone would be.
Where is my time zone?
I am in the LA time zone.
Enter my email? (confused face)
So I guess I need to go into settings first, makes sense.
We'll set up Wi-Fi, see if that works.
So turn on Use Wi-Fi, all right, it's connected.
That was fast, cool, now,
so I typed in my email, they emailed me a verification code.
For whatever reason, I kind of had
a hard time setting my password, but I did that.
As soon as I logged in,
it now says there is a new software update.
So whatever happened, once I did the software update,
it just sort of got stuck on the password page.
I restarted it and it took me
to the regular actual settings page.
And now, I think I can do stuff.
So let's go to YouTube, enter the YouTube password.
That's all set.
Apparently you could also stream to Facebook, Twitch,
or soon Twitter.
Apparently this is an Android device.
I've never used (laughing) an Android device,
so if you're familiar with Android,
I think this might actually make a lot more sense,
but I'm learning.
I clicked on More in the settings,
and it just took me to an ad to buy the YoloBox, but like...
So let's get a camera and an SD card
and start (snapping fingers) Yoloing.
It says no SD card detected.
We'll see about that.
"Tap the plus to create a live stream."
So the instructions say, "Step one.
"Connect to the internet via ethernet, Wi-Fi, or 4G,
"and then set up your YoLoLiv account,
"plug your camera into YoLoBox, you are way to go."
But I'm not way to go, though.
I have a long way to go it feels like.
So my problem that I'm having right now, basically,
is on the YoLoBox home screen?
It just gives me the option to create a live stream.
And if I do that, I can create a stream,
but it won't let me adjust like if it's a public stream
or an enlisted stream and it won't let me
just see my camera input or do anything else.
So right now, honestly, I'm like a little frustrated
that I haven't even gotten to use it at all
or even just see an input from a camera on it.
I wish that were simpler and I could go then,
later into account settings and later into set up,
because if I just wanted to use this
as a monitor or recorder right now,
why do I have to do all this stuff first?
So I scheduled a stream and I just gave it a name,
and a description, and a time.
Then when I tap on the stream,
now I have a window that shows my camera with no latency.
I can add video sources.
I can link to other things,
but it's actually not even connected
to the YouTube channel that I set the stream for.
So this is not a stream that's actually going anywhere.
There's a button that says go live.
But like, where's it gonna go?
(laughing)
But I guess you can stream to multiple things
at the same time 'cause I have Facebook,
Twitch, and all that stuff here.
I can add some overlays, that's awesome,
platforms, sound level.
Scoreboard display?
Change the score really easily right here?
That's awesome, that's awesome.
Comments, okay, so you can pop up comments.
This will be cool to see.
Settings, SD card videos.
So this is a 32 gigabyte, 60 megabit per second card.
It showed up fine.
This 256 gig, 170 megabit per second card does not show up.
So it doesn't recognize that.
But this 32 gig,
60 megabit card
shows up.
But that means you probably can't do
like raw recording (laughing) or something to this.
So now, I actually have
me here recording
and there's audio levels popping up.
That's this camera right here.
Ooh, transitions.
Windows slice, what's that?
Ooh, that's nifty, what's a squeeze?
Boop, oh, I like it.
So now, we've got cameras as sources here.
I figured out how to record.
It's a little not intuitive, but basically,
in the upper part of the screen here,
it says Go Live in a big red button,
but there's a little thing that just says Record.
It doesn't really look like a button.
But if I tap that, then it says,
"SD card free space, 29 gigabytes.
"Expected recording time, nine hours and 54 minutes."
So now we are recording, I guess.
Yeah, it says, there's a little blinking thing.
You can switch between these setups.
But I don't know what audio is going to happen here.
So (fingers snapping) I have an idea.
It does have an audio input.
This is a Y cable, so there's a 3.5 on one side.
And then there's two mono 1/4-inch jacks on this side.
I'm gonna plug these into the monitor output puts
on the RODECaster Pro.
This is the recording here.
I can transition to this camera, hello, what's up?
I'm on this camera now, and here's this.
And then we could do a little transition, right?
Where was my transitions at?
Where where my transitions at, I should say.
Cross zoom, whoosh.
There we go, and that was cool.
Boom, now we're over here.
I'm wondering if you can hear this (laughing) at all.
This would be very interesting.
No idea what resolution this is recording in.
Let's see what this recording looks like.
So I'm gonna stop recording.
After reviewing that recording,
I have a couple of conclusions.
One, the internal recording quality, not great.
It does say that it's 1080.
When I look at the file, it says it's 1920 by 1080,
but it does not look
like great 1080.
So that's kind of a bummer
because part of me was thinking,
"Oh man, if this is like an external recorder
"that could take the place of a Ninja or something,
"plus do all the live streaming,
"that's a no brainer," but it's not.
It'll record.
I definitely wouldn't rely on that quality footage.
But I will say also, before I switched the audio,
it was just taking the audio from my EOS R,
which is coming from the VideoMic NTG
that's connected to the EOS R.
So it was just taking the audio over HDMI.
Once I did connect the audio input,
it automatically switched to this.
And then you were able to hear me
through the RODECaster and the pod mic.
So that worked really well, and that was super easy.
And it seemed like that also carried over
between different camera angles.
So now, I wanna try an actual stream to YouTube via Wi-Fi.
So if I tap on the stream and I enable the YouTube account,
that's when you can select
if it's public, unlisted, or private.
So we're gonna do an unlisted stream.
It says that it's streaming in 1080, but honestly,
it looks a lot more like soft 720 to me,
but it is totally there.
Now, if I leave a comment, can I leave a comment?
Okay, so I left a comment there, which means here,
if I go into the comment section, hey, there's the comment.
And if I tap on it, oh, it pops it up on screen.
Ah, that's cool, that's like Ecamm.
And then I can tap on it to take it off, that's cool!
Okay, okay, so the quality, the video quality, not amazing.
But I love that, and that was like instant too.
This says I'm streaming at 30 frames a second, 1700 kbps.
And I've been going, so you have all your info there.
Now I could switch to the computer,
and hopefully it's still keeping the same audio source.
That's cool, I like that a lot.
Can I do a split view?
Select a source, select a B source, boom.
Okay, look at that.
Oh, I like this, I can change on the split screen view.
I can change
which thing is how it looks.
I can change the position of it.
That's cool, I can even change the thickness.
Can't change the color, I can...oh look...
The video we recorded earlier is right here.
And if I tap on that,
it's playing the video.
My transitions are still weird.
We'll just go back to cut.
And if I cut away from the video,
it cuts back to me over here.
And if I go back to the video,
it picks up right where I left off.
Didn't know that was a thing you can do.
Oh, look, now I have a full screen version of my,
oh, this is much nicer, (laughing) this is much nicer.
Still doesn't look amazing, though.
The quality on here is very much
what it actually looks like on the stream.
So it's definitely not as clear as like,
you know, what it looks like in the camera.
And this is also, it is streaming wirelessly,
the whole setup and everything so far and streaming
for eight minutes has taken the battery down to 79%.
I guess the thing to do now is
to use this a little bit more,
figure out some things about it, and then report back.
I am tethered to my phone now,
so there's that.
And that's what's providing the internet.
And I am outside and I probably should have had
an ND filter or something.
Now I can stream the dogs doing things.
Yes, this is what we're here for.
But what I'm thinking is the quality of this is not great.
And so if I'm in my room over there,
why would I use this when I can use Ecamm
with like full, beautiful resolution up to 4K if I wanted.
However, using this out somewhere,
like I have my super nice camera, actually, here,
I'll take a photo of this little setup so you can see it.
(shutter clicking) Camera on a little tripod
with the YoloBox on the top of it.
And then I've got the Wireless GO, and that's it.
And I am streaming.
So not the best quality if you're in a studio situation,
but if you're traveling or you're out somewhere,
this could actually be kind of awesome.
There's nothing else.
I don't need a computer.
I don't need anything.
And I could somehow find a way to mount another microphone
to the camera so I don't even have to hold a mic.
We'll see how this sounds.
I have no idea, let's go inside actually.
So where I'm at now in my thought process is
I think I might know where this fits.
So this was my first attempt at a mobile live streaming rig.
I've got the EOS R, a wide angle lens, the 16 to 35,
on the PolarPro Apex tripod.
This is my favorite little tripod because it's so strong.
And then the YoloBox is up here.
It does come with a little ball mount
which seems to be actually strong enough to hold it.
And then I have an HDMI cable for the camera.
I was using the RODE Wireless GO.
So I just have the receiver connected to the input there.
And then I was using this guy to talk
and it was tethered to my phone.
So obviously, that's not amazing,
which means this is not going to be
replacing my ATEM Mini or Ecamm Live
or my Mac Mini or any of that kind of stuff.
I'm not ready to YoLo that stuff out the door.
If you're in your studio situation, don't use this.
Use whatever you've got, Cam Link, Ecamm,
ATEM Mini, whatever it might be.
If you're out and about somewhere
and you're in a place where you might think,
"Hey, I'd never be able to stream here,"
or you're doing something like I used to do.
Maybe you work at a school or whatever
and you need to like stream a game
and network connections are a nightmare,
and setting up equipment is a nightmare,
this could be a lifesaver.
So whether or not it's worth it is really gonna depend
on what your needs are and what your workflow is.
It's a little funky to set up.
Once you get it up and running and you understand it,
it's pretty darn good.
Putting together a little rig like this
and going out somewhere or being in a remote location
and being able to live stream still with graphics,
and split screens, and playing clips,
and popping up comments, that is super cool.
As it stands right now, it's pretty pricey.
It usually sells for around 900-ish dollars.
I say that because depending on when you're watching this,
the price could go up, the price could go down.
That's just sort of about what it's been.
If you need these exact features,
obviously it's totally gonna be worth it.
But if it's just something you're gonna use once in a while,
that is a lot of money,
especially considering how much less expensive an ATEM Mini
or something like that might be for a studio setup.
But again, portability right here.
I just, I wish I could,
I wish I could use this bright, beautiful,
super sharp display as my camera monitor.
Like why can't I? Anyway.
If you've been thinking about live streaming,
I think you just need to say Yolo and go for it.
Here's a whole playlist of live streaming videos
that might help you get started.
And we'll see where this thing ends up in my workflow.
(upbeat music)
Oh, I'm still recording.